Cat Power, 'Sun' (September 4 via Matador)

For her first new album of original material in six years, moody Cat Power chanteuse Chan Marshall went to work by herself in studios in Malibu, Los Angeles and Miami—none exactly places that prove conducive to brooding. So it is that the songs on 'Sun' are more wide-eyed and open with synths, dance beats and optimism aplenty. —Andy Battaglia

Austin Conroy

Animal Collective, 'Centipede HZ' (September 4 via Domino)

The influence of Animal Collective on the indie underground is incalculable, and the effect of their singular approach to sound and vision has spread even more far and wide. Obliquely mixing gestures from rock with electronic sampling and yelping/screaming of various ritualistic kinds, the group have proven that anything-goes unpredictability can be an asset of unusually lasting worth. 'Centipede Hz' finds them continuing to stretch out while getting denser and buzzier all the while.

Preceded by a wildly successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign that brought in more than a million dollars, the new album by Amanda Palmer (a.k.a. Amanda Fucking Palmer) is sure to seethe with the sense of baroque intensity and unhinged theatrics that make the Boston-based artist rock hard even when she's alone with a ukulele. The first single, "The Killing Type," sounds like PJ Harvey with an extra engine for propulsion and a drama-school degree—good for the sake of songs that make stately use of expansive musicianship and red-line rage.

Shervin Lainze

Bob Dylan, 'Tempest' (September 11 via Columbia)

Bob Dylan dials down the distinctive croak of his recent years all the deeper on "Duquesne Whistle," the first single from the inimitable shape-shifter's 35th studio album. His voice sounds old, bold and still very much in tune with the history of American music going back to its early days, when traveling minstrels and carnival barkers ruled over haunting dirges and timeless songs of joy. Plus there's a 14-minute ode (the longest of Dylan's career) about the sinking of the Titanic.

This union of fabled Talking Heads mastermind David Byrne and ascendant indie songwriter/guitar-shredder St. Vincent is a marriage made in skewed, signal-scrambling art rock Heaven. They swap vocal duties and points of emphasis throughout, with an appealingly weird sense of world-music spirit and show-tune whimsy at play amid blasts of wild horns and melodies that wander and take their time to touch down.

The xx, 'Coexist' (September 11 via Young Turks)

The xx is a rare band that got people talking about Dr. Dre and disheveled post-punk charmers Young Marble Giants in the same conversation a few years ago, when their striking self-titled debut came out in 2009. Since then, Jamie xx has followed up with some notably different dubstep leanings and remix work on tracks by Gil-Scot Heron, but 'Coexist' marks the anticipated full return of the xx, who at their best stir up lithe grooves with spare guitar lines, sumptuous bass and keyboards that are skeletal and full-bodied at once.

Jamie-James Medina

Dave Matthews Band, 'Away From the World' (September 11 via RCA)

Dave Matthews has basically become a music industry in and of himself, with a monster touring enterprise and channels for albums to find fans seemingly outside all the rest of the biz. And so it keeps going… For their eighth album, Matthews and co. took to the studio with Steve Lilywhite, who produced such breakout albums as 'Crash' and 'Before These Crowded Streets.'

Danny Clinch

G.O.O.D. Music, 'Cruel Summer' (September 18 via G.O.O.D. Music)

Rarely one to stay quiet on matters even remotely related to himself, Kanye West has maintained a certain level of secrecy around the looming release of a collection of G.O.O.D. Music tracks featuring a formidable list of collaborators: Jay-Z, R. Kelly, Pusha T, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Ghostface Killah, Big Sean, Jadakiss. The list continues, but at some point, to be sure, the whole should make for more than the sum of its parts.

Daniel Boczarski

The Killers, 'Battle Born' (September 18 via Island/Vertigo)

For their fourth album, everybody's favorite mega-epic rock band from Las Vegas (is there any real competition?) broke a hiatus instated in early 2010 and went to work with a team of inveterate studio pros including Steve Lilywhite, Brendan O'Brien and Daniel Lanois. Frontman Brandon Flowers has spoken of spending more time on 'Battle Born' than any album before, and judging by the first single, "Runaways," the Killers stored up plenty in the way of anthemic sweep.

Williams + Hirakawa

Wiz Khalifa, 'O.N.I.F.C.' (September 18 via Atlantic/Rostrum)

As in "Only N-gga in First Class," which would seem to mean that Wiz Khalifa is not baller enough to spring for upgrades for his entourage. But anyway, after his debut 'Rolling Papers' perked up ears last year, the North Dakotoa-born rapper has the world before him for the follow-up, after the release of which he will embark on a "2050 Tour" with a crew including Three Six Mafia star Juicy J (who, it stands to mention, presumably flies first-class too).

Mark Hom

Band of Horses, 'Mirage Rock' (September 18 via Brown/Columbia)

Band of Horses helped firm up certain conclaves of indie America's ongoing fascination with all things rootsy, pastoral and pure. For their fourth album 'Mirage Rock,' went to work in a studio in L.A., where so many of their stylistic forebears (Crosby, Stills & Nash, etc.) started a tradition in the '70s.

Christopher Wilson

Carly Rae Jepsen, 'Kiss' (September 18 via Interscope)

Even in a realm of pop that basically lives and dies on the novelty of improbability, the story of Carly Rae Jepsen's rise came as a shock. One seemingly unassuming Canadian girl, one upload-friendly web video portal and one song perhaps you have heard: "Call Me Maybe." All of those conspired to make for a real pop phenomenon, and now it's time to see if Jepsen can make it last.

Vanessa Heins

Grizzly Bear, 'Shields' (September 18 via Warp)

Having completed a rise from little indie band to outsize heroes of fastidious reverb rock, Grizzly Bear will follow their breakthrough album 'Veckatimest' with 'Shields,' which frontman Ed Droste has described as a little harder and tighter—"not as dreamy"—as Grizzly Bear efforts of yore. Also worth noting: not many bands get booked, as Grizzly Bear did, as guests to talk and perform on 'The Colbert Report.'

Over the decades since she started out as a transgressive artist before getting on with John Lennon in the '60s, Yoko Ono has shown she can shriek and scream with the best of them. But she can also murmur and coo and swoon, as long as a song has some kind of disquieting effect in the end. For this trio the album aligned with the promise of artful noise, Ono teamed with Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, adventurous maestros of Sonic Youth and, until news of divorce broke late last year, one of the coolest wife/husband couplings of all time.

Lester Cohen

Pink, 'The Truth About Love' (September 18 via RCA)

An explosive pop-rock blast backs "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," the first single from Pink's sixth album, and the tart star gets off a few angst-ridden zingers in a song about a dude she's happy to have left. (Regarding a relationship fraught with fighting and self-described "sh-t days": "I think that life's too short for this.") Other songs on 'The Truth About Love' feature collaborations with Eminem, Lily Allen and the frontman of indie-pop breakouts fun.

Andrew Macpherson

No Doubt, 'Push and Shove' (September 25 via Interscope)

Back in business for the first time since the release of 'Rock Steady' in 2001, No Doubt rebanded a few years ago on the reunion circuit and got to work, slowly, on an album made in mind of newness as well as an abiding love for old ska, reggae and '80s new wave. Frontwoman Gwen Stefani had a couple of remarkably good solo albums to her name since, but on teasers from 'Push and Shove,' she sounds full and very much at home with her bandmates—even "hella positive," as she sings in the single "Settle Down."

A svelte and swervy rapper with a good store of style and a capacity to step out and use words like "acquiescing," Lupe Fiasco is slated to follow up on the lean of his 2006 debut with a sequel of sorts. And judging by that subtitle, 'Food & Liquor 2' portends more in the way of, well, let's just say confident album-making.

Reid Rolls

Deadmau5, '>Album Title Goes Here<' (September 25 via Ultra)

After making waves with a blog post calling out fellow dance-music artists and himself for essentially doing nothing but pressing buttons on stage, Deadmau5 will have a lot to answer for with his wryly titled '>Album Title Goes Here<.' Of course, the ultimate effect and function of dance music has little to do with how it was made and more to do with how it moves those who hear it, so it's best to defer to the crowd as to the true fate of an album said to include vocals by Cypress Hill, Imogen Heap and the frontman of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way.

Drew Ressler

Green Day, 'Uno!' (September 25 via Reprise)

'Uno!' is the first of a trilogy of new Green Day albums to be released in a string, with 'Duo!' due out in November and, yep, 'Tres!' slated for January. It's a record-biz gamble, to be sure, but what about the music? Color many intrigued by Billie Joe Armstrong's assertion that it's meant to be punchier, power-poppier—"somewhere between AC/DC and the early Beatles."

Felisha Tolentino

Mumford & Sons, 'Babel' (September 25 via Island/Glassnote)

English band Mumford & Sons play folk-rock of the most fundamental kind in that it's actually folk that actually rocks. Their mix of banjo, guitar, drums and all the rest came together on a 2009 debut that grew to be a sleeper hit, and now 'Babel,' written on the road while spreading the good word, is set to serve as the follow-up.

Rebecca Miller

Flying Lotus, 'Until the Quiet Comes' (October 2 via Warp)

Los Angeles-based beat-defiler Flying Lotus (or FlyLo, as he's known to people for whom four syllables is just too much) started out as an underground oddity and has since grown to a stature seemingly ready to loom all the more as the future catches up to his ear for astral electronic breakbeat jazz. "See Thru to U," the first single from his third album 'Until the Quiet Comes,' features Erykah Badu.

Timothy Saccenti

Ty Segall, 'Twins' (October 9 via Drag City)

Melodically inclined lo-fi songwriter Ty Segall toggles between would-be soft rock and harder garage-borne stuff with a stoned edge, and somewhere in the middle usually lurks a hook to work as a lure. His recent single "The Hill" makes good use of all his hallmarks, with a raw, raging sound beveled by the kind of sing-songy melody you can hum. He's prolific too: 'Twins' will be his third album in 2012 alone.

Annabel Mehran

Ellie Goulding, 'Halcyon' (October 9 via Polydor)

UK darling Ellie Goulding (such an English name!) sounds at home in songs big and small, whether she's belting in the midst of dramatic electronic whooshes or scaling her voice down in stirring songs for which she has strapped on an acoustic guitar. And lest she seem interchangeable with others of her ilk, she performed at Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding. As for 'Halcyon,' Goulding has described her new songs as a little less electronic yet still "tribal and anthemic."

Simon Emmett

Ben Gibbard, 'Former Lives' (October 16 via Barsuk)

Having split with his adorkable newlywed Zooey Deschanel and stepped out, for a moment, from Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard will make a next move based on former lives, or at least a collection of songs he said he's written over the past eight years but didn't come together as a whole until he moved away from Seattle to settle in Los Angeles.

Ryan Russell

Bat for Lashes, The Haunted Man (October 22 via Parlophone)

With a tender touch and a voice that can dig deep or hover hauntingly around the edges of disparate moods, Bat for Lashes mastermind Natasha Khan has ventured beyond her homeland in England to bewitch listeners from all over. "Laura," the first single from 'The Haunted Man,' is a devastating ballad centered on sparse piano and voice. And the cover art, fashioned by storied art photographer Ryan McGinley, suggests some sordid tales within.

As a member of the hip hop collective Black Hippy, Kendrick Lamar has administered a hot and cool mix of street-swung sass and West Coast lassitude. He's also found himself in the good graces of producer/mentor/whiz Dr. Dre, which never hurts for a rapper coming up among the ranks, in L.A. or otherwise.

Dan Monick

Taylor Swift, 'Red' (October 22 via Big Machine)

One thing often obscured by the long and impressive list of Taylor Swift's many charms is the reality that Taylor Swift is, well, a great songwriter. She's bright and bubbly and more friendly to her fans than would otherwise seem humanly possible, yes. But she's also sharp and wry with her words, which come across as incisive and universal at once. For 'Red,' Swift has said she focused a gimlet eye on experiences related to "intense emotion" and "mad love."

Josiah Kamau

Calvin Harris, '18 Months' (October 29 via Fly Eye Records)

Splashy, trance-y dance music DJ/producer Calvin Harris likes his gestures big and unbothered by subtlety, which has served his ascent to stardom well. Since breaking out from his homeland in Scotland in the past few years, he has taken on bigger stages with bigger reach, and there's no mistaking his status as anything less than formidable with a guest-star list for his third album '18 months' that includes Rihanna, Kelis, Florence Welch, Ne-Yo, Ellie Goudling, Dizzee Rascal and more.

Spiros Politis/Columbia Records/Sony Music UK

A$AP Rocky, 'LongLiveA$AP' (October 31 via RCA/Sony)

Since rising out of Harlem last year, A$AP Rocky has floated over the hip hop world with a sound that is ethereal and earthy at once. His vocal flow unfurls like ribbons of blown smoke, and his changed-game choice of heady collaborators and producers (Schoolboy Q, Clams Casino and Spaceghost Purp, among others) suggest a young mind—he's only 23 years old—with a lot of ideas rattling around inside.

Aubree Lennon

Big Boi, 'Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors' (November 13 via Def Jam)

After finding a way to shake the shadow of his time in the peerless duo OutKast (well, maybe not completely…), Big Boi has maintained an impressive diet for weird and surprising moves. Among the names he's said to have worked with in sessions for 'Vicious Lies & Rumors,' for instance: Isacc Brock from Modest Mouse, Alison Brothel from indie synth-pop act Phantogram and Little Dragon. (More conventionally hip hop-aligned helpers include A$AP Rocky, Kid Cudi and Bun B.) It's an open question as to what will end up on the finished tracklist, of course, but you have to admire the moxie.